Review of An Event Apart, Boston 2008

Last Friday, I was browsing Twitter when I came across someone who mentioned how excited they were to be going to An Event Apart in a few days. An Event Apart? As in, A List Apart, the most treasured of all sites on web design?

Turns out they not only had a seminar, but it was in Boston - in two days. I sheepishly went up to my boss and asked if it was alright if I was out Monday and Tuesday to attend this, apologizing for the late notice. She said go for it, so I registered that night, and the following Monday made the nightmarish rush hour commute down to the Marriott at Copley Square.

Overall, the event was fantastic. At first I was a bit hesitant to find that this was a one-track conference, meaning you couldn’t choose which presentation to go to. However I can now see the benefits of that, as each and every speaker was talented and put a lot of work into their presentations.

The seven sessions each day were a really good mix of practicality and conceptual ideas. Striking this balance can be very difficult, but I was pleased to come away with both specific notes (down to exact lines of CSS I wanted to try) as well as general ideas I wanted to implement.

I also should mention that some of these people really, really know how to use Keynote. Ethan Marcotte did an especially good job with this on a presentation he did entitled Comps and Code: Couples’ Therapy, on how designers and developers should work with each other.

My absolute favorite speaker was Andy Budd. I have never been so engrossed in a speech on web design. He had a perfect mix of storytelling, humor, and solid advice. I literally had trouble holding my applause back until the end of his presentation.

Of course, I wasn’t as big of a fan of every one of the other presentations. One focused a bit too much on style, art, and fashion, though I’m sure those people more focused on design appreciated it. There was also a speech on standards in the enterprise that I didn’t follow closely, simply because I don’t work in anything close to an enterprise environment. It also didn’t help that the speech was right before lunch and running fifteen minutes over!

Still, I look at my notes from the conference and can see how many great ideas I came away with. I am very much looking forward to attending this again next year.